A "What Could Have Been" Race: What Happened at The 2025 Belgian Grand Prix
A weekend that could have had everything “ruined” by a weather delay - whose setup gamble paid off? Who called the tire switch at the right time?
📝 TL;DR
Sprint Quali: Oscar Piastri delivered a stunning lap to take P1 with a big margin.
Sprint Race: Max Verstappen’s overtake on Oscar Piastri secured him the win.
GP Qualifying: Lando Norris bounced back and took pole; Alex Albon qualified P5.
GP Results: Oscar Piastri won, Lando Norris 2nd, Charles Leclerc 3rd. McLaren celebrated another 1–2, with Piastri extending his championship lead.
⚡ Sprint Snapshot
Holding a sprint race in Spa was an interesting decision in itself, as the track is the longest one on the calendar. This historic circuit has been reporting net financial losses in recent years, and perhaps the addition of the sprint was a way to turn up attendance and drive fans to the venue on Fridays and Saturdays.
The McLarens, especially in the hands of Oscar Piastri, were mighty this weekend. Piastri grabbed the sprint pole with a stellar lap, outpacing Max Verstappen by nearly half a second. Big shocks came early: Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Antonelli both made mistakes and were out of SQ1. Russell was caught out by the gravel kicked up by Antonelli’s spin, ending his run in SQ2.
In the opening lap of the sprint, Max Verstappen executed a perfect move to overtake Oscar Piastri for the lead. He held off immense pressure from the McLaren duo to claim his first Sprint victory of 2025 and 12th in his career. The reigning world champion drove like it was 15 qualifying laps, securing Redbull’s first win since Laurent Mekies took over as Team Principal. Charles Leclerc finished fourth, despite a beautiful pass on Lando Norris, he ultimately could not compete with the McLaren driver in the long run. Behind them, Esteban Ocon (Haas) P5, Sainz P6, Ollie Bearman (Haas) P7, and Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls) P8 scored points.
🏁 Race Recap
📊 Qualifying Highlights
Lando Norris clutched pole position ahead of teammate and title rival Oscar Piastri, even with the British driver’s struggles on Friday. Redbull opted for a higher downforce setup in anticipation of the rain on Sunday, which, with the mistakes Max Verstappen made in his final flying lap, made him qualify behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Alex Albon delivered a flawless lap that put him in P5, which was unfortunately never shown on screen as the TV broadcasters were busy filming drivers’ families in the paddock (Love to see the families, especially Anthoine Huber’s mother with the Gasly family, but there’s a time and place for everything). Lewis Hamilton did not manage to keep his car within the track limit on his final push lap, and he ended his session out of Q1 exit again, along with Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli. The Aston Martin duo of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll shockingly qualified in the last row. As the midfield is incredibly tight this year, it seems like Aston is shifting its focus to 2026, with Adrian Newey spearheading the project.
⚔️ Battle for the Lead
The race began with a rolling start, as Oscar Piastri overtook Lando Norris, managed his medium tires, and took home the victory. It’s worth noting that Norris was struggling with a battery issue when Piastri made the move, but his lock up was probably the reason to blame. When the crossover between inters and slicks happened, most teams projected the race to be a two-stopper. Lando Norris was put on the hard tire, making him and an outlier in the field. While he was making gains as Piastri’s medium tires began to degrade, Norris made a few mistakes in his second stint and was not able to catch his teammate in the 44-lap race.
🔧 Wet vs. Dry Setups
Behind the McLaren duo, Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen were within proximity of each other throughout the race. An interesting piece of data was that the two childhood rivals had just 0.001s separating their average lap times in the entire race, including the laps behind the safety car. Ferrari opted for a lower downforce setup, which gave Leclerc the upper hand in qualifying in the dry; Redbull decided to tailor their setup to the expected rain on Sunday, which made Verstappen faster in sector two. Verstappen managed to put pressure on Leclerc during the short stint on the inters, but was not able to overtake the Monégasque driver as the RB-21 lacked top speed on the straights on a drying circuit. Both cars came into the pits for slicks on lap 12. The Ferrari crew was clean with the tire change, and Max Verstappen was not able to undercut as he had a slow stop to avoid an unsafe release. They finished the race in the position they started in, 3-4.
🛞 Switching Point
When the safety car peeled away after lap 4, I texted my friend and said they should be ready for slicks around lap 10. All the hype of the race being in the rain went away as the track dried up rapidly. This year’s Belgian Grand Prix ultimately came down to one thing: the timing to switch to slicks.
Lewis Hamilton nailed the strategy as the first car on track to switch to medium tires on Lap 11. Having started in the pit lane, the seven-time world champion finished P7 after a series of bold moves both before and after he made the switch. Lap 11 was the perfect time for Hamilton as he was in a faster car, out of position, and had clear air on track. All cars that pitted in the following laps ran the risk of getting stuck in traffic.
Drivers who pitted on Lap 13 were not able to make up for the time lost for being on the inters for too long. After a decent qualifying session, Yuki Tsunoda missed the pit entry and had to do another lap on inters. The Japanese driver finished in a disappointing P13.
🌨️ FIA’s Rain Delay Debate
The big talking point after the race was how the FIA seemed overly cautious with the racing conditions: a 1.5-hour delay, four safety‑car laps, and a rolling start. While Spa is undeniably dangerous with its unique layout and elevation change, drivers like Hamilton and Verstappen questioned the delay, arguing the rain had cleared and conditions were manageable with a few safety‑car laps to clear the track. Other drivers, like Norris, Piastri, Leclerc, and Russell were concerned with the visibility through Raidillon- Eau Rouge and the Kemmel Straight, where the ground‑effect car creates a lot of spray.
The bigger issue at hand seems to be how slow the FIA was to react when the track was getting better, and only began the start procedures once the track was almost dry. This decision undermined teams who had set up for wet conditions in full anticipation of a wet race.
The race felt flat after all cars went into the pits for slick tires on Lap 13. Safety is always the number 1 concern, but races like this make you question—are we losing the soul of Formula 1 in the name of safety?
🎖️ Winners & Losers
🏆 Winners:
Oscar Piastri – overtook to take P1, nursed his medium tires, extended championship lead.
Charles Leclerc – setup paid off, qualified well in both the grand prix and the sprint, quiet hero of the weekend.
Alex Albon – exceptional qualifying for the race, held off the pack and finished comfortably in the points.
❌ Losers:
Redbull – Verstappen’s sprint win and Tsunoda’s grand prix qualifying were excellent, but they gambled on the wrong setup and were thus very slow on the straight.
Carlos Sainz – qualified pretty poorly, took a pitlane start, fumbled down the order after a bad strategy call.
Nico Hulkenberg – was running in the points in front of a DRS train, but had no pace and had to pit again.
🇭🇺 Looking Ahead: Hungary & the Title Fight
Next stop: Hungary, where Oscar Piastri claimed his maiden win in 2024 amid team orders and McLaren drama. This time, the fight could be even fiercer.
The Hungaroring’s low-speed, high-downforce layout rewards grip and tire management—both are what the MCL-39 excels at. On paper, they should dominate again. But this is Lando Norris territory: he thrives on twisty circuits and will be looking to strike back after Spa.
With the constructors’ championship safely in the bag, McLaren has been letting their two drivers fight out on track. Piastri leads in the championship campaign, but Norris is getting on better with the car. Budapest could either crack the door open or slam it shut.
The papaya rules. The title fight is on.
